Sunday, January 1, 2012

Originally published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, November 28, 1920.

"It's come!" whispered Betty excitedly to Marion, as the two hurried
into the study hall, "and we'll get permission to go to the station, and
then we'll slip it in somehow when no one's looking and - "

"Miss Jones, will you kindly stop talking!" snapped the teacher in
charge, and Betty with a little wink subsided behind her history book.
But who could study with Christmas vacation so near and all sorts of
festivities afoot, some of them known to the faculty and some not?

"It'll be the Jim-dandiest spread that ever saw the candle light!" exulted Betty as they hurried to the next class.

During the afternoon Betty's special chums received little messages scribbled on pieces of composition paper:

"One tonight by candle light!"

And at 4 o'clock the two girls, having obtained permission to go to the
village drug store, set off for the postoffice with all speed.

Boxes were forbidden at Springdale School for so much candy and cakes
were sent to the scholars that Miss Ross had been obliged to stop all of
them, or, as she said, have the whole school in the infirmary. But
Betty, determined to have one mighty feast before the holidays, had
written home for a very special box to be sent to the postoffice
addressed merely to "B. Jones." So Betty's mother had followed
instructions, and when the two girls arrived at the postoffice and
inquired for a box the unsuspecting postmistress handed over a simply
huge crate.

"If I'd a known this was yours I'd have sent it along with the rest of
the school mail," she explained apologetically. "But it didn't have the
school's name on, so I just held it here. What is it?" she asked
curiously.

"Just some things for my room," chuckled Betty wickedly.

"We'll have a nice time smuggling this in," said Marion uneasily. "Why do you suppose your mother sent a crate?"

"To keep the pies from getting smashed. And you just leave it to me," said Betty airily.

Half-way down the lane the girls met the grocery wagon and, after a
lengthy parley with the boy, Betty persuaded him to take the box in
along with the order and leave it in a seldom-used closet in the hall.
And before nightfall the mysterious box was safely secreted beneath
Betty's bed.

There had been no time to do more than take off the top lid. "But I can
trust mother, she knows how to pack a regular box," said Betty proudly.

That night as the old school clock in the office pointed to 1 there was a
breathless tiptoed rush through the halls, and without a single creak
the twelve pajama clad feasters arrived in Betty's room.

The curtains were down, the keyhole and crack beneath the door carefully
stuffed and one big candle sent its flickering beams over the merry
faces.

"Now then," whispered Betty, "get ready for some real eats!" She plunged
her hand in the box, dragging out the first object that came to hand.

The girls leaned forward as she unwrapped the paper, then Betty herself
gave a loud shriek and dropped the object with all speed. No wonder! It
was a large bony skull.

With one accord the girls began to scramble away from the box. Loud
footsteps down the hall told them that Miss Brown, the teacher in charge
of the floor, was already awakened by Betty's scream.

"Whâ€”what do you 'spose it is?" shuddered Betty, looking at the skull in the spooky candle light.

"Looks like a dinosaur," volunteered a braver member of the company, examining the great bony hollow-eyed head.

"It's a joke," hissed Marion angrily. "Betty Jones, I'll never speak to you again - I'll"

"W-ell!" Miss Brown showed signs of relenting. "If you go right to bed -
" Before she had finished the feasters had melted away into the
darkness and Miss Brown, smothering what sounded to Betty like a laugh,
retired to her room.

"Wonder what she'd say if she knew it was a real fossil?" gulped Betty,
edging away from the box. "And I've got to sleep with it!"

The next morning brought a very pale Betty to the breakfast table, and
when Miss Ross called from the office that she was wanted on the phone
her knees fairly shook.

"Are you B. Jones?" asked a pleasant voice over the wire.

"Y-es," faltered Betty.

"Well - so am I," continued the nice voice. "And I understand that you
got a box yesterday - er - Miss Jones, I fear there has been some
mistake - er - I was expecting a rare specimen and I seem to have drawn a
- er - pie and other delightful things. Shall I bring it over?"

"If you'll take your box you can keep mine," whispered Betty, looking frantically over her shoulder.

"I didn't know you knew Mr. Benjamin Jones. He's a great man, Betty, an
authority on prehistoric life," said Miss Ross, coming into the room as
Betty hung up the receiver.

"Yes'm!" said Betty meekly. But later she agreed that he was. For when
Mr. Jones called there was something so merry in his brown eyes that
Betty told him the whole story and he insisted upon being elected to the
Inferior Order of Fossils on the spot. To the astonishment of Miss
Ross, he invited Betty and eleven of the other girls to spend the next
afternoon with him. And there, with due ceremony, the right box was
produced and, with added dainties furnished by his sister, the party had
a regular feast. Moreover, Mr. Jones promised to show the members the
curious fossil when it was mounted and to initiate them into some of the
mysteries of prehistoric remains.

THE FORGETFUL POET

By Ruth Plumly Thompson

Originally published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, August 24, 1919.

The Forgetful Poet's Riddles

The games that the dear fellow tried to puzzle you with last week were
pool (surely a game for fishes), anagrams, hopscotch, cricket, squash
and hearts. An animal that might be used for pie is the doe.

This week the Forgetful Poet has given us some book people to puzzle out.

FROM SHAKESPEARE

An Italian city
An E and an -----?
Will give a young lover
Whom all of us know.

Will give a king o'ertaken
By poverty and grief, by all
He loves and trusts forsaken?

FROM DICKENS

A very small coin
And the second letter
Will give a small laddie
Who might have fared better

A tool used for laborers,
'Course I mean -----?
The part of a lamp that
Is lit, or the ----?

Will give a wise gentleman
Greatly renowned
For his wit and his wisdom
And learning profound.